Resource: Chess Wager
Media Type:
QuickTime Video
Length:
Size: 9.5 MB
In this video segment from Cyberchase, Harry plays a game of chess with a young friend and suggests a wager on the game. Harry’s friend uses a story to explain how putting a penny on the first square and then doubling the amount on each square of the chessboard can generate a tremendous amount of money over time.
Teachers' Domain, Chess Wager, published August 22, 2008, retrieved on ,
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/vtl07.math.number.exp.chesswager/
- Frame and Focus
- Follow Up
- Connections
- Standards
Here are some suggestions for using this video:
Frame: How do you double an amount? For example if you have five pennies, how much would you have if you doubled that amount? How about if you doubled it again? What do you think would happen if you kept doubling that amount, say four or five times? How about twenty times? What mathematical operation are you using?
Focus: As you watch the video segment, think about how the penny amounts increase on the chessboard as the doubling occurs. Which wager would pay out more money, the five dollar wager or the doubling pennies?
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Source: Cyberchase: “Double Trouble”
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Funding for the VITAL/Ready to Teach collection was secured through the United States Department of Education under the Ready to Teach Program.



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